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To breed Pokémon, you must leave two Pokémon in the Pokémon Day-Care centre. The Day-Care in Red, Blue, and Yellow is located south of Cerulean City on Route 5, however, it only holds one Pokemon, so you cannot breed in this Generation. In FireRed and LeafGreen, it is located on Four Island of the Sevii Islands. The Day-Care in the Johto region is located south of Goldenrod City, on Route 34. The Day-Care centre in the Sinnoh Region is located in Solaceon Town, and the Day-Care in the Hoenn Region is located west of Mauville City, on Route 117. In Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, there is another one on the Battle Resort, meaning there are two breeding centres in Hoenn. In Unova, the Breeding centre is on Route 3. In Kalos, it is on Route 7. In Generations 2 and 3, the egg will hatch into a Lv. 5 Pokémon. In Generation 4, the egg will hatch into a Lv. 1 Pokémon. If you deposit two Pokémon in the Day-Care, there is a possibility that that they may leave an egg, depending on the circumstances.

  1. Both Pokémon must be in the same Egg group. If two different Pokémon are used in the breeding process, the baby Pokémon will be the same species as the mother.
  2. There must be one male and one female (unless the Ditto Rule is used).

The Pokémon must be given enough time to breed. This time will vary. The Old Man standing outside the Day-Care will tell you how well the two Pokémon get along. The better the Pokémon get along, the faster an egg will appear, if ever. He will respond with one of the following phrases, indicating the chances of producing an egg:

  • They seem to get along well: 70%
  • They seem to get along: 50%
  • They don't seem to like each other: 30%
  • They prefer to play with other Pokémon: 0%

(The Sentences vary a little from Generation to Generation)

After this is said, start walking. After a certain number of steps, if the conditions are right, an egg will be produced. Regardless of the percentage, if they have a base chance higher than 0%, enough steps will get you an egg. The resulting Pokémon should be the lowest evolved form of the female, but there are some exceptions to this:

  • A female Nidoran's egg could result in either a male or female Nidoran.
  • An Illumise's egg could be an Illumise or a Volbeat.
  • An Azumarill or Marill egg will usually be a Marill, unless the parent Azumarill/Marill is holding a Sea Incense.
  • A Wobbuffet's egg will usually be a Wobbuffet, not a Wynaut, unless Wobbuffet is holding the Lax Incense.

The Ditto Rule[edit]

The one Pokémon that ignores the second rule is Ditto. A Ditto can be used instead of a second Pokémon. Some Pokémon are genderless, like Bronzong, and can breed with a Ditto and will hatch into a Bronzor. Other species like Nidoran♂ are male-only, and thus breeding with a Ditto will yield a Nidoran egg. Any Pokémon not in the unbreedable group can breed with a Ditto.

Ditto belongs in a special group by itself. It can breed with any Pokémon, except for legendary and baby Pokémon. However, the only method of obtaining Phione is by breeding a Ditto with a Manaphy.

Item effects on eggs[edit]

When breeding a female Wobbuffet or Azumarill (or Marill) the egg will generally hatch into the same Pokémon. But, since Generation III, a Wobbuffet with a Lax Incense will produce a Wynaut egg. Similarly, an Azumarill or Marill with a Sea Incense will create an Azurill. In Generation IV onwards, Snorlax with a Full Incense will produce a Munchlax. This is known as the Incense Rule. Items can have various effects on the Pokémon in the egg. Some Pokémon will inherit moves or natures from their parents, for example, a Pikachu holding a Light Ball will produce a Pichu that knows Volt Tackle, or a Ditto and a Parent holding an Everstone have a 50% chance (100% since Black 2 and White 2) of producing a Pokémon with the same nature as the Parent (mother until HeartGold and SoulSilver). For other items and their effects see the item sections.

Inherited/Egg moves[edit]

When breeding, the Pokémon that hatches from the egg will be the same species of the mother (except when the Ditto Rule is applied). The egg Pokémon usually inherits moves from its father (for X and Y onward, it also gets the female's moves). There are several ways a Pokémon can inherit moves. Inherited moves are moves that a Pokémon would not normally learn, but inherits through breeding.

  • If the father has learned a TM move, the baby will hatch knowing the TM move (prior to X and Y), assuming it is capable of learning that move.
  • If the father (or mother in Generation VI) knows a move that is on the offspring's egg move list, (a list of moves that can only be learned through breeding) then the baby will be born with the egg move.
  • If both parents know a specific move on the baby's level-up move list, then the baby will hatch knowing that move.

Quick Hatching[edit]

Since Pokémon Emerald, if you carry a Pokémon with the ability Magma Armour or Flame Body in the party, the number of steps needed to hatch an egg is halved.

Baby Pokémon[edit]

Baby Pokémon were introduced in the Generation II games as pre-evolutions to existing Pokémon, and are usually only available by breeding. These baby Pokémon are listed below:

  • Togepi
  • Pichu
  • Cleffa
  • Igglybuff
  • Elekid
  • Magby
  • Smoochum
  • Tyrogue
  • Azurill (Gen III onward)
  • Wynaut (Gen III onward)
  • Bonsly (Gen IV onward)
  • Mime Jr. (Gen IV onward)
  • Happiny (Gen IV onward)
  • Phione (Gen IV onward, debatable)
  • Mantyke (Gen IV onward)
  • Chingling (Gen IV onward)
  • Budew (Gen IV onward)
  • Riolu (Gen IV onward)

Incense Rule[edit]

If certain species of Pokémon hold a certain incense when breeding, then you will get its baby form. There are quite a few Pokémon that can do this:

Hatching[edit]

After you get the egg from the Day-Care Man, you need to hatch the egg. Hop on your Bicycle, and go on a long ride somewhere, as the time an egg takes to hatch is based on the number of steps you take, so keep on doing this until the egg hatches. If you really want, you can go back and forth between areas to hatch your egg. Every Pokémon takes a different amount of steps to hatch. Some of the amounts of steps are:

# of Steps Pokémon
1,280 Magikarp
2,560 Azurill, Cleffa, Igglypuff, Pichu, Togepi
3,840 Caterpie, Corphish, Geodude, Hoothoot, Illumise, Ledyba, Lotad, Nincada, Pidgey, Poochyena, Rattata, Seedot, Sentret, Shroomish, Skitty, Slakoth, Spearow, Spinarak, Spinda, Surskit, Tailow, Volbeat, Wurmple, Zigzagoon, Zubat
5,120 Abra, Aipom, Baltoy, Barboach, Bellsprout, Bulbasaur, Cacnea, Carvanha, Charmander, Chikorita, Chinchou, Clamperl, Corsola, Cubone, Cyndaquil, Delibird, Diglett, Ditto, Doduo, Drowzee, Dunsparce, Ekans, Electrike, Exeggcute, Farfetch'd, Feebas, Gastly, Girafarig, Gligar, Goldeen, Grimer, Growlithe, Gulpin, Hoppip, Horsea, Houndour, Kangaskhan, Kecleon, Koffing, Krabby, Lickitung, Luvdisc, Machop, Magnemite, Makuhita, Mankey, Mareep, Mawile, Meditite, Meowth, Miltank, Minum, Mudkip, Murkrow, Natu, Nidoran♀, Nidoran♂, Nosepass, Numel, Oddish, Paras, Phanpy, Pineco, Plusle, Poliwag, Ponyta, Porygon, Psyduck, Qwilfish, Ralts, Remoraid, Rhyhorn, Roselia, Seel, Seviper, Shellder, Shuckle, Slowpoke, Slugma, Spheal, Spoink, Squirtle, Stantler, Staryu, Sudowoodo, Sunkern, Swablu, Swinub, Tangela, Tauros, Teddiursa, Tentacool, Torchic, Torkoal, Trapinch, Treecko, Voltorb, Vulpix, Whismer, Wingull, Wooper, Wynaut, Yanma, Zangoose
6,400 Absol, Castform, Chimecho, Duskull, Elekid, Heracross, Lunatone, Magby, Mantine, Misdreavus, Mr. Mime, Onix, Pinsir, Sableye, Sandshrew, Scyther, Shuppet, Skarmory, Smoochum, Solrock, Tropius, Tyrogue, Venonat
7,680 Anorith, Kabuto, Lileep, Omanyte
8,960 Aerodactyl, Aron, Eevee
10,240 Bagon, Beldum, Chansey, Dratini, Lapras, Larvitar, Relicanth, Snorlax, Wailmer

Also, legendaries can be hatched from eggs via GameShark or Action Replay:

# of Steps Pokémon
30,720 Mew, Mewtwo, Celebi, Ho-oh, Lugia, Deoxys, Jirachi, Rayquaza, Groudon, Kyrogre, Latios, Latias
20,480 Moltres, Zapados, Articuno, Suicune, Entei, Raikou, Registeel, Regice, Regirock

Eggs hatch into Pokémon at Level 5 in Generation II and III and at Level 1 in Generation IV,. You may notice by looking at the egg's status in your party that the Trainer Memo sometimes changes depending on how many steps you've taken – this can help determine how many more steps you must take before the egg will hatch. The type, OT, and IDNo values are all ???, but by using this Breeding Guide you should be able to find out what moves the baby Pokémon will have.

Egg groups[edit]

All Pokémon belong to at least one group, but certain Pokémon fall into more than one group. Two Pokémon can only breed if they are in the same egg group. The list of egg groups are as follows:

  • Dragon
  • Fairy
  • Field
  • Flying
  • Genderless
  • Human-like
  • Indeterminate
  • Insect
  • Grass
  • Mineral/ Rock
  • Monster
  • Unbreedable
  • Water A
  • Water B
  • Water C

Pokémon fall as follows into the groups (not updated for Generation V and VI Pokémon):

Flying Dragon Fairy Ground Genderless
Grass Human-Like Indeterminate Insect Mineral/Rock
Monster Unbreedable Water A Water B Water C